John,
Wow! Consider yourself lucky. It took mine a couple of years to start producing
regularly. Some eggs were laid soon after I got them, then nothing
for over a year.
I have one group that have been established for almost two years,
set-up in naturalistic vivaria with full spectrum lighting, that have not
reproduced anything viable yet.
The group I have that is beeeding seems to be most productive when temperatures
are quite cool (nighttime 55-62 F) and daytime at 72-74 F. I think
full-spectrum
lighting is important. Females also seem to need a lot of calcium to
produce viable eggs.
When I started using snails and oral supplements of calcium, egg
production took off.
The first clutches I hatched last August are now nearly adult. They
grow quickly,
although a U. ebenaui that hatched the same time grew like a bad weed
and was adult size
in 7 months.
Neil Meister
>Of all the Uroplatus I have keep thus far (fimbriatus, henkeli, phantasticus
>and sikorae), I have had the best luck breeding U. phantasticus. I can't
>guarantee this will work for everyone but it has for me. I currently have 9
>hatchlings and 1 clutch incubating. I picked up two adult pairs at the last
>NRBE show in Daytona and within weeks they started producing clutches of
>eggs.
>
>I keep both pairs in the same 10 gallon tank with a screen mesh cover. The
>bottom is covered with paper towels and contains two potted plants (ivy and
>elk-horn fern), some slender bamboo stakes and a piece of cork bark. The
>room temperature ranges between 70-75°F. During the day the tank is
>illuminated by a ZooMed Reptisun fluorescent bulb and at night by a 25 watt
>red incandescent bulb. I mist the tank once in the morning and again at
>night. I feed them mainly adult crickets dusted with Minerall several times
>a week.
>
> The females normally lay pairs of viable eggs on the soil surface beneath
>the ivy. I once found a single dud that was laid in the open. When I find
>eggs I remove them and incubate them at room temperature on slightly
>moistened vermiculite or more recently on aquatic plant soil (Seachem
>Flourite). At this temperature the eggs have taken 96-99 days to hatch. I've
>had one or two eggs go bad, but the majority have gone full term. I start
>feeding the hatchlings on flightless D. hydei and 1/8-1/4 crickets, but
>other wise use the same setup as the adults for raising them. They grow very
>quickly and the first clutch to hatch 4 months ago are already half the size
>of the adults.
>
>--
>
>John Friel
>Ithaca, NY
Neil Meister
Promotions Secretary
Global Gecko Association
http://www.gekkota.com
President
Nova Scotia Herpetoculture Society
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